Pumping gear unit



Aug. 3, 1943.

C. M. OLEARY, JR

PUMPING GEAR UNIT Filed July 14, 1941 2 Shets-Sheet .l

CHARLES.

Inventor M OLL'AEYL/R.

. Aug. 3, 1 943. c. M. CLEARY, JR

PUMPING GEAR UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet .2

Filed July 14, 1941 Patented Aug. 3, i943 V UMPING GEAE UNIT j Charles MroLeary, Jr.,Ls Angeles Calif. 1

, A tonius July 14, 1941, sa a-s age: t'ciaims. (o iw i irn This invention. relates :to mechanical: driving means and particularly pertainsto a pumping gear unit.

' In the operation of oil well pumping equipment itis usual practicexto provide a'walkingbeam which is driven through a pitman rod from a continuously rotating driving source. Such equipment is shown in my'patent entitled Oil' well pump and counterbalance, No. 2,244,428, issued on June 3, 1941. In this :type of'apparatus a variable loadis imposed upon the driving source 7 due to the fact that on the up-stroke of thepump the Weight of the pumping rods :and a column of oil is elevated, while on the down-stroke the weight of. the pumping rods is added to the driving force. It is therefore'necessary to attempt v This is particularly truegin cases'where 'a set of Q ,L'Fig. 3 isa-view-in horizontalisection through i a the gear unit as'seen'onthe line'3-3 of Fig. 2; a

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section throughrthe crank and -pitnian rodistructure, asseen on theline 4-4 oi'Fig. 1. V V,

Referring more particularly to the drawings; I 0.

indicates the base structure of a pumping unit; The base structure maybe mounted upon or rorin a part:ofawellderrick'ifioor; Mounted upon the base I0 is a Samson post l I carryinga bearing 1 2.

, A pivot'pin- [3 extends through the bearingmemcarried by a, walkingfbeam I5.

driving gears is interposed betweenfthedriving source and thepitman rod for atthe extremes of the stroke these members will be placed under ex cessive strain, and it isdesirable to mount the driving gears 'in a manner =toinsu re that they will be supported to resist strain and thus; to eliminate wear as the driving mechanism pro-' ceeds through a cycleof its operation." It is the principal-object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a, bearingsupport forthe' driving gears interposed between a drivingsource and an oscillating pump mechanism, and 'wherebymaxi I mum strain and r The present invention contemplates the provision of a gear unit for pumping mechanism. and

wear will be eliminated from the the like. which comprises a driving pinion, a,.rel-

ativelyflarge ring gear driventhereby andcar'rying a pitman rod connection, the ring gear being mounted for rotation uponan internal'tubular.

hearing. I

The invention is illustrated byway of example in the accompanying drawings; in'which:

Figure 1 is a View in 'sideelevation showing the 40 r of the gearunitr enerallyindicatedat 'ai and which unit is the-specific subjectof the present 7 1 invention; As seen in-Figi'3 'of 'the drawings the g V pulley 33 drives'a pinion 36. Thispinion'is inj. mesh with a gear 3'! mounted upon a gear shaft I 325. The gearishaft 38 is rotatablysupported in application of the present invention to a counter--v balance pumping m'echahism.- V 1 Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary-view showing;

the details ofthe gear unit.

leer l2 aswella's abearing l-M'The bearing'M is This beam-is of the cantilever type and is fitted at-its'outerend with a suitable horsehe'ad IG; The reins ll of a cros'shead!!! are s'ecured'to'the:horsehead and are attached-to the usual pumping rods-i9.- In the present instance a counterbalance structure is shown This includes a'p'ivotal bearing 20 'se-@ cured'upon the .base it and carrying a tubularpivot pinl2i. 'Ihe tubular pivot'pin 21- connects I with a tubular piston rod 22' extending iupwardly into a counterbalancecylinder 23. ripiston 24 is carried on the piston rod and reciprocates therewith 'within the cylinder." Mounted on the Q upper end of the piston is. a bearing bracket 25 carrying? a pivot pin 26: This pin is also mounted ina -bearingibracketm'carried upon the lower iaceiof the walking beam-l5 adjacent to its free ,y I, H v H I p Ansu'itable compressiontank 28 is mountedon p the basellland communicates with the tubular pivot shaft 2! through a 'pipelll. The walking beam' i'soscillated: by the power delivered from 2 a motor-30 01" other-power generating unit. As. here shown, =thismotor is fastened upon the 7 base It and' drives'a pulley 3| aroundzwhich a belt 3-2 is led. i'lhefopposite end of this belt is led overia relatively large :pulley' wheel 33 car'- ried ona jack shaft-3'4; 'Thejack shaft. is part bearings .39 and 'fii'l of a. housing 4i. The nousing 4! is carried on thehousing. of the gear unit" 35 and includes additional :parts to befhe'reinafteridescribed. The shaft38 extends from the; side of the housing lvl and carries a pinion 32 V on'itsouter extendingiportionlr The pinion iZis in mesh with-airing gear43 andwhich gear is formed with a, centralspider 44, provided with 'a.

- series -,0'fradial arms eachjhaving agsjeat to anism. f

By reference to Fig. 3 of the drawing it will be seen that the central spider 44 is relatively narrow as compared with the width ofithe ring gear 43. This makes it possible to mount the ring gear upon complementary fixed tubular alignment in variousparts will be taken care of, since the shaft 64 can oscillate in its bearing,

1 relieving strain on the gear housing and resultbearings 41 and 48 and eliminates any side draft and overhanging load. These bearings are in the shape of complementary ring units each having a cylindrical bearing face 49 and a side face 50. lar cylindrical bushing 5|.

Resting upon the bearing face 49 is a tubu- These bushings are ing in a drive to'the center plane of the gear housing.

In operation of the present gear unit the structure is assembled'as here shown and the crank throw shaft 64 is assembled within the bearing cups 6'! and within an appropriate seat 45 of the gear. spider 44. When the structure is thus assembled driving motion is imparted through the belt 32 to the pulley 33' and then through the shaft 34 to the shaft'38. It is to be understood more particularly concerned with the support for of a width equal to the distance of the .overhanging part of the gear 43 with relation to the spider44-and abut against the side faces of the, spider and the side face 50.1: 2' r Ahousing element '52; extends'between the members 41 and 48 and secures these members in 1 I spaced fixed relation to each otherwhen engaged by .cap screws 53.. The tubular bearings- 41 and 48 are counterbored to register at in the housing 52 to relieve any. strain on bolts 53 and add to the rigidity of the unit. Downward extensions 52' rest-upon the base, structure. 10 and aresecuredin place by cap screws 53. The. member 4'! also has a tubular extension 54 into which the shaft 38 projects, and which is se-' cured'to the end of the bearing 46 by bolts 55.. The member 48 is formed with a tubular extension 56 which projects outwardly and receives the outer end of the shaft'38. Suitable antifriction bearings 51 are disposed, upon opposite sides of the gear 42 upon the shaft 38. A closure plate 58 is secured over the end of the: tubular. bearing extension. 56 and thus cooperates in preventing oil leakage from around the shaft. In each of the tubular shafts 41 and 48.an oil seal groove 59is provided. A feature of the invention'having particular importance is the crank throw to which the pitman rod is connected. The pitman-Zrod, as indicated at 60 in Fig. 1-of thedrawings, extends fromthe crank throw structure 46 .to, apitmanrod shaft 6| carried by a bracket 62 on the walking beam l5. Thepitman'rod, as shown inFig. 4 of the drawings, comprises two parallelrods 66 which are fitted at their lower end with clamps 63. Theseclamps receive the ends of a tubular crank shaft64 which is formed intermediate its ends with a spherical portion 65. A

lubricant may be introduced into the interior of.

thetubular shaft:64 through a suitableconnection 66. shaft 64 is secured within'a pair of complementary cups 61. These-cups embrace .oppositesides of the spherical portion 65 of the shaft and are formed to fit within the openings 4570f thegear spider 44. Flanges 68 carried by the cups lie againstopposite sides of the'spider 44 and are securedin place bybolts 69.

is a suitable bearing material 78." .Thismaterial may be any desired substance-having anti'- pitman rods 60 engage opposite ends of the shaft 64 upon opposite sidesof thering gear,- any mis- The spherical portion 65 of. the crank Interpcsed between the spherical surfaces of the portion 65 and com plementary spherical segments of the cups 6! the ring gear '43 and the automatic adjustment of the crank throw shaft 64 with relation to the gear and the pitman rods 68.

Whenthe .shaft38 is driven it will impart rotation to the ring'gear 43 through the pinion 32. Attention is directed to the fact thatthe tubular bearingunits .41 and 48 support the ring gear along the. internal face thereof Thus, as the ring gear imparts motion to the pitman rod 66 the tubular bearings 41 and 48 will provide the ring gearwith a firm bearing support. This is particularly important' at the ends of the stroke ofthe pitman rod, bothwhen the rod passesover center above the rotating axis of the gear 43 and below the rotating axis. When the crank throw. shaft 64 passes over dead center above the rotating. axis of the gear it will be evident that there will be a force tending to pull the pitman rods downwardly and to deflect the ring gear 43 in a downwardly direction. This cannottake place in the present instance due to the fact that the tubular bearing sections 41 and 48 occur beneath the upper segment of the gear 43'which tends to deflect "and will support this section and prevent. deflection. When the crank throw shaft 64 passes dead center beneaththe axis of the gear '43 there'would tend to be a deflection of the gear downwardly but in so doing there would be a tendency for the inner face ofthe gear 43 to draw against the supportingsurfaces of the tubular bearings at eachside of the area under strain. This will brace these sections and prevent the deflection of the gear and will thus insure that the geardoes not excessively wear on its bearing surface, and that thetubular bearing sections 4! and 48 aremaintained in a true cylindrical shape.

It is to be understood that lubrication of the gear is brought about due to the fact that the teeth of the gear 43 pass through a body of oil standing in the-lower part of the structure 52, and that the oil will be sealed within the device. This is' further sealed by Oil seal elements 12 and 13 which are positioned within the grooves 59. The oil level line is indicated at a in Fig. 1 of the drawings H From the foregoing analysis it will be evident that a gear unit is provided which eliminates all unnecessary strain and'wear and any binding action of the parts, and also insures that a gear of relatively light weight maybe used due to the the arrangement of the present gear drive it is possible to eliminate the disadvantages obtained by the rotation of the ordinary crank and crank shaft at slow speed, and that the gear unit will be compact and of light weight and will readily lend itself' to installations which balance the movement of the pump by an air counterbalance.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention as now known to me, it will be under stood that various changes may be made in combination, construction and arrangement of parts 7 by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit cfmy invention as claimed. 7 Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is A gear unit, including a drive shaft, a fixed bearing within which saidrshaft is rotatably supported, a drive gear on the shaft, a ring-shaped driven gear in mesh with the drive gear, a central web for the driven gear, a driven element'carried by the central web, a pair of fixed tubular 'bearings extending into the central opening of the driven-gear and providing an annular bearing support therefor, said bearings having outer side flanges engaging the circumferential inner face of the driven gear at opposite sidesrofthe web,

walls and spaced fromeach other along the central plane of the structure" to form a slotted" opening, a ring gear mounted within the case and supported upon said bearing surfaces, whereby it may move therearound, a driving connection 7 secured to the inner circumferential face of the ring gear, and projecting through the'slotted opening formed between the annular walls, a driving pinion in me'sh'with thering gear, a

shafticarrying the same, and .a fixed bearing secured to the case and within which said shaft isrotatably supported. r 4. A'gearunit'comprising a gear'housing including arpair of spaced side walls, an outer wall connecting said spaced side walls, and cooperating therewith to'iorm an enclosure, a pair of annular inner walls connecting with the side whereby the driven element may be free tomove with the driven gear as guided'between said side fianges, and an outer annular enclosing wall cooperating with the bearingof the drive gear and the tubular bearings of thefdriven gear forv forming a gear case.

2. A gear unit, including a supported, a drive gear on the shaft, a ring-, shaped driven gear in mesh withthe drive gear,

a central web for the driven gear, a driven element carried by the central web, a pair of fixed tubular bearings extending into the central opening of the driven gear and providingan annular bearing support therefor, said bearings having outer side flanges engaging the circumferential inner face of the driven gear at oppoe site sides of the web, whereby'the driven element may be free to move with the driven gear 'as guided between said side flanges, an outer V annular enclosing wall cooperating with the' bearing of the drive gear and the tubular bearings of the driven gear for forming a gear case,

and oil sealing means between thedriven gear and the tubular bearings for confining a lubricant within the gear case.

walls anddefining a central annular'passagewayu through the housing, said annular inner walls g-l being spaced from each other horizontally, whereby an annular passage will be formed b'etween the annular inner-walls, an annular bear- 1 ing surface carried upon the outer circumference 3 of each of said annular inner walls,.a ring gear drive shaft, 2. fixed 1 bearing within which said shaft is rotatably f 5. Thestr'ucture of claim 4 including a member carried'by the ring gear and projecting through theannular space between the inner mountedwithin the gear housing upon said an nular bearing surfaces and spanning the space" therebetween', a driving pinion inmesh with, the ring gear, a shafttherefor, and, a bearing 'for said shaft carried by said gear housing.

walls of the housing, whereby the ring gear may rotate upon its axis while imparting movement} tothe driving connection.

'6. The structure of claim 4includinga driving member carried by the ring gear and projecting Y through the annular space between the inner walls of the housing, whereby the ring gear may rotate upon its axis-whileimparting movement to the driving connection, and a transversely dis-' posed crank pin carried by'said driving connec- 7 tion and projecting at opposite sides of the gear housing. 7

CHARLES M. OLEARY, JR.-

driving- 

